Modular Robotic Kit with Tendon-Driven Joints for Cost Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional robots, especially musculoskeletal robots, face high costs and limited accessibility due to the lack of off-the-shelf components, making them impractical for domestic and service robotics applications.
Innovation Solution
A modular robotic kit comprising actuator, joint, and structure components with quick-release interfaces, enabling tendon-driven kinematics and intrinsic compliance, allowing for flexible, cost-effective, and lightweight robotic system design.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If custom-made components are used for musculoskeletal robots, then the robot achieves intrinsic compliance and safety for human-centered environments, but the total cost becomes prohibitive and accessibility is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The robotic system is divided into modular components (actuators, joints, structures, sensors) that can be independently selected, configured, and assembled. This segmentation allows researchers to build compliant musculoskeletal robots using standardized off-the-shelf parts rather than custom-made components, significantly reducing cost while maintaining the compliance特性 through proper component selection and arrangement.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent establishes universal connection interfaces and standardized mounting patterns that allow the same components to be used across different robot configurations and applications. This universality enables a single set of modular components to serve multiple functions and robot designs, reducing the need for specialized custom parts and lowering overall system cost while preserving compliance capabilities.
2Manufacturing precision
If custom-made hardware and software are used for musculoskeletal robots, then the robot achieves precise tendon-driven kinematics, but the device complexity increases and is seldom used by people other than those who built it
Solution Approach 1:
The system separates the complex tendon-driven kinematics control into modular functional units (actuators with integrated encoders, standardized joint modules) that can be independently calibrated and tested. This segmentation reduces overall system complexity by allowing each module to be optimized and validated separately before integration, while maintaining precise kinematic control through standardized interface protocols.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs standardized parameter sets for component specifications (link lengths, joint ranges, actuator torques) that can be adjusted through software configuration rather than physical redesign. This allows precise tendon-driven kinematics to be achieved by changing control parameters and calibration values rather than redesigning hardware, significantly reducing device complexity while maintaining manufacturing precision.
3Power
If traditional industrial robots are used, then precision, speed and power are achieved, but safety problems arise in human-centered environments
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes pneumatic actuators with inherent compliance characteristics that provide force control and safety in human-centered environments. The pneumatic system naturally limits maximum force output while maintaining speed and precision capabilities, resolving the safety issue of traditional high-power industrial robots without sacrificing performance in service robotics applications.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts operational parameters (force limits, speed profiles, impedance) based on the task and environmental context. This parameter adaptation allows the robot to operate with high precision and speed when safe, while automatically reducing power output and increasing compliance when operating near humans, thus resolving the contradiction between power capability and safety.
4Reliability
If musculoskeletal robot design is used, then safety and compliance are improved for domestic applications, but the weight increases compared to traditional robots
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies compliance and safety features selectively at critical locations (joints interacting with humans, end-effectors) rather than throughout the entire robot structure. This local application of musculoskeletal design principles maintains safety where needed while using lighter, more efficient structures in non-critical areas, reducing overall weight while preserving safety benefits.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs composite structural elements (carbon fiber reinforcement, aluminum alloys) that provide high strength-to-weight ratio for the skeletal structure. This allows the robot to maintain the compliance and safety characteristics of musculoskeletal design while minimizing the weight penalty through advanced material selection and optimized structural geometry.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention concerns a modular robotic kit containing a set of components each of which is assignable into one of at least three different functional groups in which the first functional group contains at least one type of an actuator, the second functional group contains at least one type of a joint and the third functional group contains at least one type of a structure. The actuator type component contains at least one motor driven shaft, at which at least one end of a tension transmitting element, like a cable, is fixed for up- and unrolling at least of a section of the tension transmitting element around the shaft, and at least one mechanical interface to attach the actuator type component on the structure type component. The joint type component has two sections providing each at least one connection interface and being arranged relative to each other by having one up to three degrees of freedom of rotation and zero up to one degree of freedom of translation between the sections, at least one of the section provides a fixing means for fixing at least one section of the tension transmitting element of an actuator type component. The connection interfaces are adapted for a releasable and direct or indirect connection with the connection interface of another joint or with a connection interface of a structure type component. Finally the structure type component contains a rigid support structure having at least two ends, at each end a plate like structure is arranged at which the connection interface is provided for a releasable and direct or indirect connection with the connection interface of a joint type component or another structure type component, and the rigid support structure provides at least one mechanical interface for connecting with the mechanical interface of the actuator type component.